Cardinals Advance To Big East Semi's

Posted: Thu 9:18 PM, Mar 12, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) - Rick Pitino still roots for Providence, the teamhe led to the Final Four more than 22 years ago. He likens theprogram to his alma mater, and still considers it his first bigbreak in the coaching profession. If the Friars were playing anybody else Thursday, Pitino surelywould have cringed. Instead, he watched the Friars nearly match a Big Easttournament record with 26 turnovers, and his fifth-rankedLouisville Cardinals eventually find their own offensive rhythm ina sloppy 73-55 quarterfinal victory. "We do a very good job of moving the ball and defending," saidPitino, whose team advanced to play No. 10 Villanova in Friday'ssemifinals. Earl Clark had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman centerSamardo Samuels added 22 points for the top seed and regular-seasonconference champions, who've won eight straight and are trying toshow the NCAA selection committee that they're deserving of a No. 1seed. The Cardinals (26-5) have won 18 of their last 20 overall,including five wins over ranked teams, highlighted by a 69-63victory over then-No. 1 Pittsburgh. Their last loss was Feb. 12against Notre Dame. The Friars (19-13), meanwhile, are just hoping they get a lookon Selection Sunday. "I'm kind of like everybody else. You listen to a lot ofpredictions, but the one thing that those people who predict havein common is they're not in the committee room," said first-yearcoach Keno Davis, who led Drake to the NCAA tournament last season. "When you talk about finishing in the top half of the Big East,is that enough?" Davis added. "We'll see what happens. We'll haveour fingers crossed on Sunday and look forward to playing morebasketball." Davis had better hope the committee looks at the Friars' body ofwork - including notable wins over Pittsburgh and Syracuse - andnot at their performance in this one. Weyinmi Efejuku scored 17 to lead the way, but Providence'sghastly turnover total was one shy of the tournament record set byGeorgetown in 2002. Efejuku committed five of them. Senior forward Geoff McDermott had 11 points but committed seventurnovers, and the team wound up shooting a dreadful 2-of-17 frombeyond the arc. Providence finished 33.9 percent from the fieldoverall against the nation's 22nd-best field goal percentagedefense. "I think they're the most aggressive defense we've faced, andconsistently aggressive," Efejuku said. "Forty minutes, they'rein your face." Guard Sharaud Curry, who hit five 3-pointers and scored 25points in the Friars' win over DePaul on Wednesday, was held to sixpoints and was 1-of-6 beyond the arc. Louisville had plenty of chances to blow the game open in thefirst half, at one point holding Providence to one field goal overnearly 9½ minutes. During that ragged stretch, the Friars committedfour straight turnovers, had one possession where they missed threestraight from under the basket and airballed an open 3-pointattempt. The Friars, who average 14 turnovers, coughed the ball up 15times in the first half alone and fell behind 34-24 at the break. For every laughable gaffe that the Friars made, though,Louisville tried to match them. Star forward Terrence Williams, a 41.9 percent 3-point shooterin the conference, missed his only try in the first 20 minutes. Healso blew an open dunk on the Cardinals' second possession anddidn't score in the first half. Once the Cardinals finally stopped throwing up 3-point tries -they finished 3-of-19 for the game - and began looking inside, theymethodically pulled away. Leading 43-36 with about 13 minutes left, veteran guard EdgarSosa curled in a jumper that started a 10-2 run, and Williams madehis first basket with just over 9 minutes left to give Louisvilleits first comfortable lead. The smaller Friars couldn't keep up with Louisville'sathleticism, giving up a fast-break basket seemingly every timethey threatened to close the gap over the last 10 minutes. When they managed to slow the game into the half court, the240-pound Samuels went to work inside. His emphatic jam with about1:30 left put the signature on his best game since the second ofhis career, when he scored 24 points against South Alabama. "He was good," Pitino said. "I don't think he did anythingspectacular. I think he just stayed within the framework ofteamwork and got a lot of good shots."

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